This tutorial is designed to teach you how to make a 3D engine, with a few
other random tidbits of information thrown in. It assumes you have a
good understanding of C, and are working in a DOS or Windows environment.
However, even if you are coding for another platform, some of the material
should still be useful.
If you don't know C, I recommend getting The C Programming Language by
Brian W. Kernighan, Dennis M. Ritchie. For more information on graphics
and 3D topics, check out Computer Graphics: Principles and Practices by
Foley, Feiner, van Dam, and Hughes.
Here are the topics the tutorial covers. They might not all apply to
you, so just read what you need to know.
- Basics - Some basic things you'll need to know before trying to make a 3D engine.
- Mode 13h - Mode 13h is an easy to use, VGA graphics mode. This section tells you how to get into mode 13h, and how to draw colored dots on the screen.
- SVGA - How to get into super VGA modes and draw dots with them.
- Primitives - How to draw simple objects, like lines and solid color polygons.
- 3D Math - How to store your 3D objects, and how to project them onto the screen. This will let you draw wireframe objects.
- Visible Surface Determination - How to draw solid 3D objects correctly so that distant objects are not drawn in front of near objects.
David A. Mellis / stendahl@imsa.edu /
Last Modified - June 2, 1998
